Gloede jury returns verdict

CONROE- Michael Brandon Gloede, 30, of Conroe was convicted on Thursday of manslaughter in the 221st District Court of Judge Suzanne Stovall, for his part in the May 4, 2006 death of 32-year-old Lori Randall, who was his girlfriend at the time.

Gloede and his father, Fred, were arrested and charged with murder on March 31, 2008.

The original arrest affidavit states the pair caused Randall’s death by “blunt force trauma to the head,” which is believed to have occurred on April 30, 2006 in the 1500 block of West Creek Drive in Conroe. Detectives with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office were contacted on May 1, 2006 by staff members of Methodist Hospital in Houston, where a medical helicopter took Randall earlier that day. The contact was requested by Randall’s attending physician.

Randall died on May 4, 2006 after she was removed from life support.

The document states that the “most significant injury discovered was a large right-sided subdural hemotoma with neurological evidence of extremely severe and most likely irreversible brain injury not compatible with life.”

According to the report, Randall’s friends and family said she was physically abused by Gloede and his father during frequent stays at their home on West Creek Drive. Witnesses told investigators the pair used illegal drugs.

Those witnesses also told officers that Randall said she was afraid if she tried to get out of the situation “she would be killed” because of her knowledge of their alleged illegal activities related to drug sales and her knowledge of where the contraband was stashed.

Randall once reported an assault by Gloede, but later dropped the charges.

A friend of Randall’s reportedly stopped by the Gloede residence on April 30, 2006 and saw Randall and Gloede in Randall’s car. When the friend tried to talk to Randall, Gloede allegedly told her she needed to leave. The friend told investigators as she left she saw what appeared to be Gloede reaching over and grabbing Randall around the neck and shaking her. Witnesses told officers such incidents were not uncommon.

A neighbor told investigators that on May 1, 2006, Gloede stopped by asking for aspirin for Randall, saying she had headache. The witness characterized Gloede as “agitated, nervous, and not himself.”

According to the report, Fred Gloede admitted to investigators that he argued with Randall on the night of April 30, 2006 and he shook her twice during that time, and threw her one the couch.

A witness told officers Fred Gloede later expressed shaking her so hard that she passed out, then shaking her again until she passed out and laying her on the floor. The father and son stated they put wet rags on her head to make her feel better that night and in the morning called for an ambulance.